nå is the everyday Swedish verb for reaching — reaching a shelf, reaching a friend on the phone, reaching a goal. It is a textbook Group 3 verb: a short, vowel-final stem (nå) whose principal parts are nå – nådde – nått. Group 3 is small but high-frequency (it includes bo, tro, må, sy), and once you know its -dde / -tt signature you can conjugate the whole class.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Present | Preteritum (past) | Supine | Imperative | Group |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nå | når | nådde | nått | nå | Group 3 (short, vowel-final) |
The present just adds -r to the stem (når), because the stem already ends in a vowel — Group 3 verbs don't take the -er of Group 2. The past adds -dde (nådde) and the supine adds -tt (nått) directly to the short stem. Compare bo – bor – bodde – bott and you'll see the same skeleton. The doubled consonant in nådde and the short -tt in nått both mark the preceding vowel as short — a spelling rule worth noticing, because it is exactly what distinguishes Group 3 from the look-alike strong verbs.
Jag når inte den översta hyllan utan stol.
I can't reach the top shelf without a chair. når — present.
Vi nådde stranden precis innan regnet kom.
We reached the beach just before the rain came. nådde — past.
Har du nått honom än?
Have you reached him yet? har nått — perfect.
Use 1: reaching a place or thing
The most literal sense is physically reaching or getting to something — a place, a height, an object just out of reach. With a thing you want to touch, nå often pairs with upp till ("reach up to").
Barnet kunde äntligen nå dörrhandtaget.
The child could finally reach the door handle.
Når du upp till lampan, eller behöver du en stege?
Can you reach up to the lamp, or do you need a ladder? nå upp till.
Vattnet nådde nästan upp till knäna.
The water reached almost up to our knees.
Use 2: reaching a person — by phone or message
A very common modern use is nå någon = to reach someone, i.e. get hold of them by phone, email, or text. This is the word you'll hear in voicemail greetings and customer service.
Du når mig lättast på mobilen efter fem.
You can reach me most easily on my mobile after five.
Jag försökte nå dig hela förmiddagen.
I tried to reach you all morning.
Tyvärr gick det inte att nå någon på kontoret.
Unfortunately it wasn't possible to reach anyone at the office.
Use 3: nå fram, nå ut — particle uses, and reaching goals
nå takes a couple of high-frequency particles. nå fram means to get through / arrive — literally reaching the front or the destination, and figuratively getting your message across. nå ut means to reach (an audience). nå also takes abstract goals: nå ett mål, nå en överenskommelse (reach an agreement). For more formal "achieve," the prefixed cousin uppnå is used instead.
Brevet nådde aldrig fram till mottagaren.
The letter never reached the recipient. nå fram — arrive/get through.
Jag känner att jag inte når fram till honom längre.
I feel I can't get through to him any more. figurative nå fram.
Vi nådde till slut en överenskommelse.
We finally reached an agreement.
Kampanjen nådde ut till tusentals nya läsare.
The campaign reached thousands of new readers. nå ut.
Common Mistakes
❌ Vi nåade målet.
Incorrect — nå is Group 3, not Group 1, so the past is nådde, never -ade.
✅ Vi nådde målet.
We reached the goal.
❌ Jag har nådde honom.
Incorrect — after har you need the supine nått, not the past nådde.
✅ Jag har nått honom.
I've reached him.
❌ Jag nåer inte hyllan.
Incorrect — Group 3 present adds only -r to the vowel stem: når, not nåer.
✅ Jag når inte hyllan.
I can't reach the shelf.
❌ Jag nådde mitt mål — ett stort uppnående.
Mixed up — to physically/abstractly reach is nå; the formal 'achieve' is the separate verb uppnå. Don't blend them mid-sentence.
✅ Jag nådde mitt mål och uppnådde ett bra resultat.
I reached my goal and achieved a good result.
Now practice Swedish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Using the Verb ReferenceA2 — How to read the single-verb reference cards and the principal-parts citation system that underpins them. Every Swedish verb is cited as a short chain — infinitive – present – preteritum – supine – (past participle) — because every other form is derivable from those parts. This page decodes one weak verb (tala – talar – talade – talat) and one strong verb (skriva – skriver – skrev – skrivit – skriven), explains the conjugation-group labels (1/2/3/4), and gives a key to everything on a card.
- The Four Conjugation GroupsA2 — Swedish verbs sort into four conjugation classes, identified not by the present tense but by the PAST (preteritum) and supine: Group 1 (talar/talade/talat), Group 2 (ringer/ringde/ringt, köper/köpte/köpt), Group 3 (bor/bodde/bott), and Group 4, the strong verbs (skriver/skrev/skrivit) that change their vowel. Group 1 is so dominant and regular that every new and borrowed verb joins it — so treat it as the default and memorise only the closed list of strong verbs.
- Verb + Preposition GovernmentB2 — Many Swedish verbs demand a specific, unpredictable preposition: tänka på (think about), vänta på (wait for), tro på (believe in), be om (ask for), tycka om (like), längta efter (long for), bero på (depend on). The governed preposition rarely matches English's, and it's unstressed (unlike a particle), so these combinations are vocabulary items you learn as whole units.